My apologies for the down time on the comments. It was a necessary evil to implement the new commenting system. I am aware that this will take some getting used to for everyone, myself included. For over 12 years, I’ve used the native WordPress comments due to its relative simplicity. The simplicity comes with a cost, as it slowed down the site tremendously. Without getting too technical, each time the site was loaded all comments were loaded as well, whether or not you were on that particular page. That’s 12 years of comments, loading each time you come here. It was a huge strain.

Thus, the decision was made by myself, working with my new hosting platform, to migrate to Spot.IM. The comment loading issue is resolved, which is certainly a good thing. It may not be overly noticeable, but I certainly see a difference. But with this much needed change comes a change in how comments are published here.

Gone are the days of entering a name, email, and commenting. You have two options:

1. Register using the Login link pictured below. This appears when you click “Show Comments” at the end of the post. Create an account using either your social media or your email. Be sure to adjust your email notification settings.

Or

2. Don’t create an account, and comment with either the “Guest’ username or enter something. That shouldn’t change much from what you’ve done in the past.

Naturally, I want you all to create accounts so that we can continue the discourse with minimal interruptions and quirks. I do understand this won’t be seamless.

An added perk is that the trolls are going to be significantly easier to identify. Those that want to be here will, for the most part, create an account and continue as if nothing changed. Naturally, one-time commenters and trolls will not create accounts.

I am now relying on you all to help me out with comment quirks that need fixing. I have identified a few things already that I am working on:

  1. Replies don’t automatically get shown, and you need to click into a comment to see the replies.
  2. The comment count isn’t shown on the post itself, and only shows when you click “Show Comments”
  3. Mobile commenting isn’t overly easy.
  4. Hitting return on mobile doesn’t create a new line, it brings you to the top of the existing comment

Please use the comment section to let me know about other issues you find. Some of these should be relatively quick fixes, others may not be. Also please let me know any feedback on the new layout of the site, which also went live two days ago. I get the feeling most of the feedback will be on the comments, but if you see anything wrong with the layout, please comment.

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